Mumbai, Oct 22: Cast an eye over queue of doubters who believe R Vinay Kumar's wicket-taking ability may be on the wane, and you will notice a distinct absence of contemporary opposition batsmen.
That's the same group which continues to celebrate the loudest when Vinay captures wickets in the ongoing One-Day International series against England.
Yes, Vinay Kumar doesn’t possess speed but he does make up for it with skill. “[MS] Dhoni is a great believer and he kept on backing us. Once I spoke to him, [he said] ‘I won’t believe on pace, because if you have skill it is more than enough. If you bowl the right areas, you will definitely be difficult for the batsmen to hit. Pace also matters but we are not like that slow also, 130 – 135 is good enough and with the swing it can be tough for the batsmen,” he says.
In an exclusive tête-à-tête with BCCI.TV, the Karnataka lad spoke his heart out on his performance in international cricket.
Bowling the slinger and other innovations, how have you worked on them?
IPL is such a format where bowling one dot ball is very crucial. I just tried that new action to bowl a dot ball. I never had it in my mind to get a wicket with that ball. I am lucky that I got [Adam] Gilchrist’s wicket in that ball. In T20 you should so some different things. That format is good for that, but in One-Dayers you should keep it simple.
Having started your career in T20 internationals do you look forward to bowling longer spells?
I would love to play Tests because you can see my Ranji Trophy performance. I love to bowl for long durations. All formats are different and I would love to play Test cricket.
On the journey from Davanagere in Karnataka to Chester-le-Street
When I started playing cricket no one expected that I will play for India. My coach Prakash Pawar used to say that you have the talent, definitely one day you can make it. Unfortunately, he is not alive today. Once he passed away [ Prakash], then [LM Prakash] has taken care of me. [In] Karnataka there are many senior players like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid , [Javagal] Srinath, [Sunil] Joshi. Being with them, playing with them, they have all contributed to bring me to this level.
Whether his parents came to watch him play?
Yes. Whenever in Bangalore, whatever game I play in the IPL, they will come and watch.
Has Anil Kumble been a mentor to you?
Yes.
So, how has he been guiding you through the entire process?
Anil Kumble as we all know is a great player and a great mentor. When I started playing for Karnataka, actually I played a big tournament for him. My first big tournament was MRF Trophy in Bangalore I played under him. He was my captain actually, from that day he kept telling you have the talent just keep believing in yourself, work hard and [try] to get better. He used to motivate me with those kind of words. Anil bhai and Rahul bhai, all helped me a lot.
On the influence of Zaheer Khan and do the younger bowlers miss his presence in the team
Definitely, we miss Zaheer Khan. When I played my first IPL for Bangalore [Royal Challengers Bangalore], that time also Zaheer was there and he helped me a lot while bowling in the middle. So, yes we are going to miss him but Dhoni bhai is there and sometimes Praveen [Kumar] also comes and keeps on talking to us. They are all making up
On using the new-ball from both ends
For me it is actually helping, because I am a swing bowler. Normally, the white ball won’t swing for more than six to seven overs, very rarely will it swing untill the tenth over. Using two new balls at both the ends, it will swing for 10-12 overs.
